Vermont Rare Bird Reports 2020

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Common Name	King Rail
Scientific Name	Rallus elegans
Type of Report	Rare Species
Date of Observation	05/19/2020
Number Observed	1
Reporting Observer's Name	Kyle Jones
Mailing Address	230 South Windsor St South Royalton, VT 05068 United States Map It
Email	Email hidden; Javascript is required.
Date Completed	05/21/2020
Names & Emails of Other Contributing Observers	Bill Shepard, found and reported, Henry Trombly, checklist with photographs, email unknown https://ebird.org/checklist/S69404520
Latitude of Observation (enter 0 if unable to provide)	43.995
Longitude of Observation (enter 0 if unable to provide)	-72.119
Place Name	Waits River
Township	Bradford
County	Orange
Vermont eBird Checklist URL	ebird.org
Time of Day	04:30 PM
Length of Time Observed	30 minutes
Maximum Estimated Distance from Bird (in feet)	150
Minimum Estimated Distance from Bird (in feet)	10
Noteworthy Weather Conditions	Sunny and calm. This bird was found a few days after an intense front came from the west, dropping some White Pelicans on nearby Lake Morey. Possibly related.
Optical Equipment Used for Observation	8x32 Leica binoculars A point and shoot camera that was not up to the task (no photos). An android phone that was use to obtain the sound recordings.
Observer’s Previous Acquaintance With This or Similar Species	Much experience with the very similar Clapper Rail. No experience with King Rails.
I certify that any attachments included with this report were captured during this observation event.
Description of Habitat	Freshwater marsh at the confluence of the Waits River with the Connecticut River. Emergent cattail and open water.
Behaviors Observed	In the cattails almost the entire time. Brief periods in the open but severely backlit. It did fly towards me when I used playback once and walked in a circle completely around me 15-20' away. I tried to get photographs at this point, but there was just no way.
Description of Vocalizations	See sound files in the checklist (one is also attached here). LOUD clacking. Much louder than nearby Virginia Rails. Variable in speed. At one point a very similar pattern to the Virginia Rail "grunt call", but much louder. But mostly a non-descript staccato pattern. Almost continuous while I was there.
Verbal Narrative & Description of Observation	Mostly captured in the audio files. I had brief looks and noted a very bold black and white pattern on the flanks.
Relative Size & Shape	Clearly substantially larger than Virginia Rails, which I have extensive experience with.
Head	Red and gray. I had difficulty judging the rufous vs gray cheek pattern that distinguishes Clapper from King because the bird was in the cattails or shrubby veg most of the time. The rufous cheek color was very apparent in the photos Henry Trombley took a couple of days later.
Feet & Bill	Characteristic long, curved bill of rails. Long legs.
Breast, Belly, Flanks, Under Tail Coverts	Very bold black and white pattern on the flanks. Some Clapper Rail photos also show this, so that alone did not make me confident of the ID.
Tail	Short.
IMPORTANT: What similar species were eliminated when making the identification and how was this bird different?	Virginia Rail is much smaller and not nearly as loud. Clapper rail is similar in size. This bird was first reported as a Clapper Rail. It was brighter colored than the Clappers I have seen but I thought that was not enough to rule out Clapper Rail. Voice recordings were submitted to other birders who identified it as a King Rail (Will Russell, WINGS, Inc and Rare Birds of North America author; and Eric Hynes, Field Guides, Inc). Ali Wagner shared a link to a King Rail vocalization that was nearly identical to one I recorded in the field.
Other Notes & Comments	Presumably an AHY bird and therefore an adult? Sex not determined and I did not hear it give a male or female call as listed in the BirdsEye app.
This report was written from notes taken:	Written from Memory

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